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Posted by
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November 20, 2015 |
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VANCOUVER, B.C - The Vancouver Whitecaps are fresh off the most successful
MLS season in club history. Vancouver finished second in the MLS western
conference and for the first time ever, the team hosted a home playoff
match. The result may not have gone the Whitecaps way, but the building
blocks are certainly in place for a solid and bright future going forward.
The offseason will no doubt be a busy time the Whitecaps. Players need new
contracts, options have to be picked up or declined and some veteran
players could be out the door to make way for up and coming players.
Vancouver Whitecaps President Bobby Lenarduzzi was available for an
exclusive interview with Red Nation Online earlier this week and he
touched on a variety of hot button topics the team faces.
Bobby, how would you assess the Whitecaps 2015 season?
I guess I would look at it in its entirety and look at what our objectives
were at the beginning of the season. One was to win the Amway Voyageurs
Cup and the other was to host a home playoff game. If we look at it from
that point of view, then we'd have to consider it a success and I do
believe that it was. Unfortunately, we didn't finish as well as we would
have liked and of course losing at home to Portland with an almost 28,000
crowd on hand was disappointing. I think we have to try to take a step
back and look at it from the big picture point of view.
What are the big goals for next season?
Well that's something that we'll probably keep internal this year given
what we've done in the previous season, it seemed like a nice evolution.
Now the benchmarks are obviously higher, but rather than put ourselves
under pressure from the outset we will look to continue to improve.
In what areas do you want the club to improve in during the offseason?
I think the obvious is that we need to score more goals. I think the year
before we talked about needing 20 more goals and I think another 10 would
probably put you into a position where you could be finishing first or
second in your own conference. Goalscoring is the priority.
A striker on that Christmas list of yours?
A striker is definitely on the Christmas list. What we will also do is look
at other areas of the park and see if we can't upgrade in those positions
as well.
David Ousted has a club option, but he hasn't fully committed to returning
next year. If he asks to be moved would you move him?
I like to deal in the certainties and we're having discussions with him
now and I think until we resolve it, it would be best to keep those
discussions internal. Needless to say, we were delighted with the way he
performed last year and I think he and his wife love it here in Vancouver,
so we're hopeful that we can sort something out.
Veteran players Steven Beitashour and Mauro Rosales also have club
options, will you be picking up those options?
Again, discussions have taken place with both players in the player exit
meetings and we will continue to talk to both of those players.
How did the Vancouver Whitecaps lose the rights to Homegrown goalkeeper
Callum Irving?
That's something that I'd need to talk to our coaching staff
about. I'm not entirely sure what that situation entails.
Do you have his rights, right now?
Again, I haven't had that in-depth conversation, so we'll need to discuss it.
Erik Hurtado went on loan to Norway during the season, will he be back for
next season?
As of right now he'll be back, yes.
Was Cristian Techera's transfer fee if you want to purchase him from his
loan deal decided before the Whitecaps brought him in on loan or is that
fee to be determined now that the season is over?
We don't ever get into specifics on contracts, but clearly given the way
that he played he's someone that we would like to have back, so we're
talking to his club right now about actually making that a certainty.
When does preseason start?
The draft is mid-January (January 14 in Baltimore, Maryland) so it will
likely be the third week in January.
Will the Whitecaps be playing any preseason fixtures in Europe or England?
No, definitely not.
Will any Whitecaps players be going on trial in Europe or England during
the offseason?
Yeah, we're actually talking to the players now about that. It won't be
many, but there could be an opportunity for one or two of the younger
players to gain some experience.
Thanks Bobby, enjoy your evening.
Thank You.
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